Waymo retires Firefly to focus on mass-produced vehicles

Published 11 months ago on 14 June 2017

Waymo CEO John Krafcik unveils a Chrysler Pacifica Minivan equipped with a self-driving system developed by the Alphabet Inc unit at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit January 8, 2017. — Reuters pic

SAN FRANCISCO, June 14 ― Alphabet Inc's self-driving car unit Waymo said it is retiring its line of Firefly test vehicles to focus on integrating its technology into mass-produced vehicles.

Waymo would work towards equipping its initial fleet of 600 Chrysler Pacifica minivans with custom-built radar and vision systems, and an all-new artificial intelligence compute platform, to enable the cars to see even further and sharper, the company said.

“By focusing on mass-produced vehicles like the Pacifica minivan, we'll be able to bring fully self-driving technology to more people, more quickly,” Waymo said in a blog post.

The latest technology will also allow the self-driving minivans to reach full speed compared with the Firefly, which was limited to 25 miles per hour. ― Reuters